Zephaniah 3:17"The LORD your God is in your midst, he is mighty to save He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

This verse is a perfect example of believers holding onto the promises and ignoring the commandments … and the warnings. In context, we see that Zephaniah 3:1 is a warning to a rebellious city.

Zephaniah 3:1Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, The tyrannical city!

A quick word-study shows that "REBELLIOUS" means to go against His command and not obey His Words - in ALL that He commands ... as we see here:

Joshua 1:17"Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the LORD your God be with you as He was with Moses.

1 Samuel 12:14-15(14) "If you will fear the LORD and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God. (15) "If you will not listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.

Psalms 107:10-11(10) There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, Prisoners in misery and chains, (11) Because they had rebelled against the words of God And spurned the counsel of the Most High.

Also, in context, we see that this ever-so popular "word of promise" from Zephaniah 3:17 is spoken to none other than the remnant of Israel:

Zephaniah 3:13"The remnant of Israel will do no wrong And tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue Be found in their mouths; For they will feed and lie down With no one to make them tremble."

Church goers and pastors are being hammered left and right by believers asking questions about what the Bible has to say about the fourth commandment. Pastor Tim Conway takes his stab at answering these questions. Watch as Conway has a self-dialogue in regards to what the Bible does – or doesn’t say – about the … Sabbath, Christian Sabbath, the Lord’s Day, First Day … what was it again???

So, this is a question that we have all thought about from time to time. After looking at this topic in the Scripture, the result is not quite what we anticipated, nor does it really line up with the common “story line.” Let's take a look at what Scripture says about what happens to us when we die.The body and soul return to the dust and the Spirit departs and returns to Yahweh.

Psalms 146:1-4 NASB Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! (2) I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. (3) Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. (4) His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish.

Psalms 104:29 NASB You hide Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire And return to their dust.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 NASB then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Genesis 3:19 NASB By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

Luke 23:46 NASB And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT." Having said this, He breathed His last.

Acts 7:59 NASB They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

The body and the soul are delivered into Sheol in death.

1 Samuel 2:6 NASB "The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

2 Samuel 22:6 NASB The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

Psalms 89:48 NASB What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

Proverbs 7:27 NASB Her house is the way to Sheol, Descending to the chambers of death.

Proverbs 9:18 NASB But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

The body and soul are asleep in Sheol and are awakened to a day of judgement.

Daniel 12:2 NASB "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

Daniel 12:13 NASB "But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age."

Isaiah 26:19 NASB Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.

John 5:28-29 NASB "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, (29) and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

Acts 2:29 NASB "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

Acts 2:34 NASB "For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,

Acts 13:36 NASB "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;

1 Thessalonians 4:16 NASB For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Many look to Yeshua’s death on the stake as a reason to believe that when we die, that very day we will be in heaven. Luke 23:43 says, “And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise." At first glance, it seems that Yeshua promised the thief that the thief would be with Him (Yeshua) in "paradise" that very same day. However, John 20:17, clearly states that Yeshua didn’t go to heaven during those three days after He died. How is it that Yeshua made this promise to the thief? We know that no deceit was found in His mouth (1 Peter 2:22 & Isaiah 53:9), so Yeshua couldn’t have promised the thief that the thief would be with Yeshua that same day in paradise. There is no punctuation in the Greek texts. Read it again, with a slight change in the placement of the punctuation: “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me in paradise."

In Luke 20:34-38, Yeshua specifically states that Yahweh is the God of the living not the dead, which further supports the notion of a resurrection to eternal life. At that future time, the dead will be roused from their sleep. And, in John 14:1-3, Yeshua spoke of all who will believe it and accept it regarding the time when the dead will wake up. Yeshua indicates that when He returns to Earth, He will re-gather his chosen ones (including those that have died) and bring them to Himself. This verse indicates that there will be dwelling place and that we will have a consciousness of Yeshua and our environment again.

In summary, it seems that, according to our study of Scripture, when we die, our body and soul are put to rest in Sheol and our Spirit departs to Yahweh. While in Sheol, we are in some sort of "sleep" state without consciousness and without awareness of even Yahweh Himself. Despite the Biblical evidence, this is not a popularly held view. It is important that we point out that the Scripture is also clear that while death may be a “sleep of unconsciousness,” it is only temporary. For those who trust in Yahweh to keep His promises through Messiah, eternal life without death awaits them for eternity!